Miskolc Day 2: both games drawn, Anand leads

6/4/2009 – Game three, in which Viswanathan Anand has the white pieces, was a somewhat timid draw in 28 moves. In game four he was under pressure from Peter Leko, and was forced to hoover the board of pawns, ending up with a bishop against two bishops. But Anand put his king into a corner square where he could draw with an unusual fortress. Full photo report with GM commentary.

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Peter Leko vs Anand
in Miskolc, Hungary

This Rapid Chess event is taking place in Miskolc from June 2-7, 2009.
The year’s most prestigious clash in Hungary is being organized
at the National Theater, 1 Déryné str, Miskolc.

The number one Hungarian grandmaster, Peter Leko takes up a duel of eight
games against the Indian World Champion Viswanathan Anand. The games will
be played at a rate of 25 minutes for all moves with a bonus of ten seconds
per moves. Colours change at half-time. In case of a 4-4 draw blitz games
will decide the winner. The arbiter of the Match is WGM Zsuzsa Veroci,
Head of Communication of the Hungarian Chess Federation.

At the end of each day of play there will be a press conference of 10-15
minutes with both players. On the final day the press conference will
last 30 minutes.

Miskolc 2009 – Day two

Match arbiter WGM Zsuzsa Veroci announced the start of day two and game
three in Miskolc

Zsuzsa had some explaining to do: Anand clearly had white on the table and
on the computer screens, in game three after having white in game two. At the
welcome dinner
the matter had been discussed and the players had agreed to switch – after
half the games, as is often done, or on each day, as Anand had understood it
to mean. In a brief discussion before game three the matter was decided: the
colours will be switched on each day. On Saturday Anand will have black in the
first game and on Sunday white. Peter Leko agreed to follow this system.

More good news: Anand's baggage arrived in the morning, so he is able to
wear his favourite shirts

The public are rooting for him: Peter Leko, Hungary's top grandmaster

And day two is under way. The following commentary is by GM Ferenc Berkes and
IM Gyula Meszaros, who are doing the live commentary for the audience in Miskolc.

1.d4 d5. Of course, Peter didn't want to play again his favourite Grunfeld
defence because of his lost second game. 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3.
Peter has chosen the Anti-Meran System, which is Anand's prefered weapon
but with Black! 5...Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.a3 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4
11.Bxe4 bxa3 12.0-0 Bd6 13.b3 Nf6 14.Nd2!? This is a well-known position
where White sacrifices a pawn to sharpen the fight. 14...Nxe4 15.Nxe4 Bxh2+
16.Kxh2 Qh4+ 17.Kg1 Qxe4 18.f3 Qg6. While the target of White are the black
squares around the black king Leko starts immediatly counterattack against the
g2 square. 19.Bxa3 h5!

23.Qg3! Keeping the queen is the strongest plan. At same time in
my opinion (IM Meszaros) changing the queens was a reasonable possibility. The
pair of bishops means a serious advantage in positions like this (symmetrical
pawn structure, the central pawns are absent) and Black cannot easily build a
fortress on the queenside because of the too advenced a6-b5 pawns. We have to
mention that the time pressure helped neither the attacking nor the defending
side! Time-wasting calculations of variations or a sure and longtime advantage
in the endgame? Peter chose the first option. 23...f6!? 24.Bc3 Qd8 25.h4 Kf7
26.Qe3 h5 27.a3 Qd5

See also

12/30/2017 – The "King Salman World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017" in Riyadh from Decemer 26th to 30th. At the half way point of the Blitz Championship, the defending champ Sergey Karjakin leads with 9 / 11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a half point back followed by Peter Svidler and a trio of Chinese: Wang, Ding and Yu on 8 / 11. In the Women's Pia Cramling has a full point lead with 9½ / 11. Watch live with Rounds 11 to 22 from 12:00 Noon CET (6:00 AM EST) on Saturday with commentary by E. Miroshnichenko & WGM K. Tsatsalashvili.

See also

12/6/2017 – Imagine this: you tell a computer system how the pieces move — nothing more. Then you tell it to learn to play the game. And a day later — yes, just 24 hours — it has figured it out to the level that beats the strongest programs in the world convincingly! DeepMind, the company that recently created the strongest Go program in the world, turned its attention to chess, and came up with this spectacular result.

Video

The Exchange Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3) is a simple and easy to learn answer to the Caro-Kann. By clarifying the central tension White gives himself a clear plan of attack using the half open e-file and the e5 square. This is far from easy for Black to meet as Bobby Fischer, Jan Timman, Walter Browne and other leading Grandmasters have demonstrated in their games. Black too has his resources but he needs to know what he's doing. On this DVD you will find a clear explanation of the strategy for both sides as well as answers to popular treatments such as 4...Nc6 5.c3 Qc7. Whilst the main focus is on the White side of this opening you will also find ways for Black to defend.